7thsealord

I think the idea that the LW is some kind of high-level mutant (mutant mutant? superdupermutant?) has definite merit. That is pretty much how I see it. During play, often imagine Enclave intel-types gathered around a conference table reviewing reports and spy footage, whilst saying to each other "She did WHAT?" "That's impossible.", etc.) The Character starts off being fairly tough anyhow, and then rapidly develops a wide array of abilities. Some abilities can be attributed to experience and general "toughening up". Weird-ass technology (Moira's experimental treatment, that Combat Module from the Commonwealth, etc.) accounts for some more. But there is a significant number that seems to come totally out of nowhere. Collectively, all this puts a mid/high-level LW well into the 'Superhero' class. Which is 100% fine with me, BTW - harsh gritty reality is for masochists.

@ TorrentialDefect. Fair enough. Say something like "post-nuclear wasteland", and I think pretty much all of us instinctively picture a blasted desert. @ Talwyn224. Some VERY nice pictures there. Noting too, those "hot spots" or (as I call them) "Rad Pits" scattered around the DC Wastes. Unsure what The Lore says of them, but my guess is that these are where nuclear powerplants Chernobyled during The War and immediate aftermath. Their cores melted down (destroying remaining aboveground structures in the process) and are now cooking away and slowly decaying below ground level. It may be too "hot" (in both senses of the word) for plantlife to endure too close to those specific locations, and this might also help explain the ongoing problems with contaminated water in the Wastes. In a sense, these "Rad Pits" have become something like this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_nuclear_fission_reactor

You know you can set up hotkeys for weapon selection, right? Also note that there is a section on this forum specifically for Mod Requests. It's even called that.

Groovy. Works for me. Have to remember that for the next time I go postal on Paradise Falls.

:biggrin: Hee-Hee-Hee. Yep, liven up the game it certainly does. It also gives you a huge incentive to keep close tabs on your Companions. Note that various mods increase the incidence of 'big" weapons that can be found out in the Wastes. You REALLY have to watch your Companions then.

Yes. The only quibble I have is that the car in Picture #2 seems remarkably pristine. Unless it has actually been kept in working order - and just happened to be parked there when that picture was taken. Then again, there is LOTS of small stuff that somehow remains completely usable despite a century-plus of total neglect. So one perfectly preserved automobile is no biggy.

Hmm, that'd be me. :whistling: There are enough idiotic / inaccurate / obsolete tropes out there already, that I doubt this particular one will disappear anytime soon.

Then what exactly are all those Brahmin eating? And possibly Molerats too - some of their idles look a lot like 'grazing'. If 'smaller animals' is the answer, then what are those smaller animals eating? Noting the deeply wacky "science" of this gameworld, it is clear that FEV did NOT affect all animals to the same extent - either by species or by individual. Which is why some Humans became Ghouls and others remained Human (in appearance at least). Dogs stayed 100% recognizable. Certain arthropods look the same, but have gotten much bigger. Other critters have 'changed' to varying degrees. So why should all plant life have only been affected one specific way? I can easily accept that some plant species may have been wiped out by FEV but, noting what happened with animal life, other plant types would have been either unaffected or "changed" to varying degrees - some a little, some a lot. Given the characteristics of certain plants I previously mentioned, it is also very easy to see how a few could have simply "dodged the FEV bullet" - seeds buried deep, etc.. Just as some Humans dodged FEV by being in Vaults when it all began happening. Finally, note that if certain settings of the basic game are cranked up, one DOES get plant life in the DC Wsstes. It is just that notoriously crappy-looking grass and a few assorted shrubs. "Some" plant life, as distinct from "No" plant life, mind you. Yep, how people want to play the game, or how they want their games to look, is enturely their own business. Whether blasted desert or jungle or whatever. I prefer the jungle-y look because, to my mind, it makes more sense and is much more pleasing to the eye. But not everybody feels the same, and that is fine.

@charwo - :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: for the additional pics. @Dweedle - .... And yet a wide range of critters (Deathclaws, Molerats, Wild Dogs, Yao Guais, Radscorpions, Giant Ants, Btahmins, Radroaches, Bloatflies, Mirelurks, assorted Human subtypes and presumably a whole bunch of smaller lifeforms we don't get to actually see) are all apparently thriving in a (you claim) plant-free environment? Sorry, I simply don't see it. Plants are tough. Bamboo groves in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were re-sprouting within a fortnight of the blasts ( - any professional gardener can tell you that bamboo is hellaciously hard to eradicate, even from a confined area). Mangrove sprouts will drift across entire oceans, just to wash up on tidal mudflats and begin growing. There are other plant types whose seeds lay dormant in the ground for years before sprouting. There are plants whose seed pods only open in the aftermath of major fires. Plants tend to be more tolerant of irradiated or "tainted" conditions than animals, large or small. So if the DC Wasteland ecology was doing so well that so many different "large" (Man-sized plus) animals were managing, then it is logical for there to be a heckuva lot of vegetation to support said animals.

Looks great to me. My compliments. Never bought into the devastated look - in a century or two, plantlife would have well'n'truly returned in force. I'm a bit more extreme. My system is lower end, so can't have ALL the bells and whistles, but I use the 'GreenWorld', 'Palm Trees' and 'Ground Of Green' mods together (making for a very pleasing mixed look). I also use the 'Saturnworld' mod for the night sky, to make the world look even more alien (and kewl). Together with a few other lesser things, all that is probably enough to make some Lore-Worshippers have aneurysms. :)

I wouldn't be too sure. If the problem definitely started right after the FOOK2 thing, that looks like a distinct possibility. Assuming this isn't the answer, there is always the brute force option. Try switching off various mods at a time, then run the game and see if the problem is still there.

No worries. There are a lot of GREAT mods around for pretty much everything imaginable (and then some). My own game has so many mods that looking at it would make a canon devotee self-combust. Just ask, or do a wander through the threads - plenty of recommendations to be found. Good luck.

A great deal depends on what kinds of mods you like or think that you would like. There are several threads here started by people in your general situation. Personally, I would rate 'DCinteriors' ( http://fallout3.nexusmods.com/mods/5573 ) and Busworld ( http://fallout3.nexusmods.com/mods/13064 ) very highly on the 'Must Have' list.

As I see it, if the LW wants to find Dad, s/he has to upgrade. Better weapons, better armour, better capabilities, better knowledge of the DC Wastes AND friends with lots of guns. Go running off Downtown as soon as you get the directions from Megaton, and you are dead. It really is that simple. Plenty of warnings given in-game about how dangerous it is out there.

RL-3's cargo capacity does come in very handy. But I found he sometimes goes totally psycho at friendlies and neutrals for no reason, so I don't use him at all now. Charon is hard to beat, if only for the way one gets to "employ" him. I just love that guy's style. Accepted that you don't want to use any mods (at least at this stage), but these two little guys are terrific robotic guards / cargo-haulers. One of them even uses RL-3's dialogue: http://fallout3.nexusmods.com/mods/7781

As a general rule, if a Companion "finds" a weapon and ammo better (read: does more damage) than what they already have, they will often (but not always) pick that up and use it instead. They will not revert to using the old weapon just because they find ammo for it. As long as their weapin has ammo and is better than anything they find, Companions will stick with what they have. Which brings to mind a funny story. One time, I was playing a heavily modded game. The LW and assorted Companions were blasting through the big hall in the Capital Building. Massive explosions kept happening off in the distance, and I couldn't figure what was going on. .... Until I noticed that Bittercup (Companion mod) had a weapon slung on her back that was definitely NOT what I had given her. I looked closer, and had a sudden "H-o-l-y C##p" reaction. It was a FatBoy launcher, and she had obviously picked up several reloads for it. Ghod knows where she had found this weapon, and I give thanks that we had not been in any close-quarters fighting, otherwise it would have been ..... bad. Personally, I would advise having Broken Steel on as you play now. It does provide certain benefits, such as your Character being able to level higher.

W-e-l-l,mostly Good Karma. Being Evil has never held any appeal (there are exceptions - that idiot who needs escort to Bigtown often dies horribly enroute :) ). A few other areas are either left alone (like Tenpenny Towers) or I side with the "wrong" guys (Ashur in The Pitt) because I simply don't like the choices involved. ..... And I DO like blowing away Raiders. And Talon Company. And Slavers. Especially Slavers. Get a nice warm feeling of moral superiority from that, after time in The Pitt. As said before , your game, your rules. Compared with some of the stuff that other people do, you are pretty mild, really.

Your game, your rules, naturally. Personally, I'm uncomfortable with selling off ANYONE, even captured Raiders, to the Slavers. Sure, one can justify this as what those Raiders deserve but, as I see it, this is also helping the Slavers stay in business. This is a bunch that has absolutely no qualms about wiping out settlements (refer: Rockopolis) or selling kids - and will undoubtedly keep doing these things whenever the oppurtunity and chance for profit presents. They are also much better organized than any Raider group, and with connections beyond the DC area. Which (IMO) makes them a bigger danger than Raiders rather than a convenient means of garbage disposal.

Pretty wierd! So since Eulogy and the doc were hostile, was Pronto also hostile after that? One of the minor reasons I like to stay on good terms with Paradise Falls is that they are the closest clinic in the middle of nowhere. Very useful for my LW who always seems to get addicted to jet and beer... Nah, pretty sure I had killed Pronto by then. Keeping certain people alive at places like Paradise Falls or Evergreen Mills is usually not a big deal for me - I keep clear of addictions, load up on ####loads of Stimpacks before I go walkabout, and there are always the Caravans and places like Tenpenny Tower. Works well enough for how I play, anyhow.

I have absolutely no problem with Boston being FO4's locale. In fact, I approve. There is a very clear lead-in to it from FO3's android quest (that mention of "the Institute"). Also, totally had enough of wide-open spaces in NV - let's get back to a serious urban environment, thanks. ;)

One detail to add. Note that, for a small number of Mods, there are very specific instructions that they should NOT be part of any Merged Patch. If you don't have any of thse kinds of Mods (they are uncommon, but some are well-regarded), don't worry about it. # If you DO have any Mods like this, simply follow Prensa's instructions - but make sure those particular Mods remain unticked at every stage. # When you have finished, leave FOMM and then go back into it. # Tick those mods and move them down the bottom of Load Order below the Merged Patch. # Then you should be fine. ***** One other detail I just thought of. After playing for a while, and accumulating some Saved Games, you may find that some mods are not to your liking, or that you want to use some other mods as well. Happens all the time. * If so, save your game someplace (an interior cell is best) that you know will NOT be affected by the mod changes. * Leave the game, then make your changes. * Go back into that Saved Game. * Before doing absolutely ANYTHING else, wait for three (3) days. * Leave that interior, save game. Carry on playing. That three day wait is very important. Without it, you may have problems with stability and (especially) corrupted game saves. Most encounters and respawns run on a three day cycle, so this should be enoough time for enerything to settle. Good luck.

Your general summation is very logical. Of course, all that assumes that some of those places actually survive. I prefer to run "Good" LWs, and blitzing Paradise Falls, Evergreen Mills AND everything to do with Talon Company always stands high on my list of things to do. I can seriously whomp on all of them with a clear conscience, and doing so gives me a truckload of stuff to make use of or sell. Then too, I'd have major misgivings about hiring on Talon Company for any 'Rebuild Civilization' effort in any case. They seem to be little more than high-tech Raiders at best.

None I'm aware of. 100% agreement that 30 days seems a very long time for the trip in question. Then again, the storyline has to allow time for Nadine to have gotten there and be established before the LW finds her. Second, the distance may be short in straight line terms, but there is nothing to say just how many stops and diversions are made by the riverboat along the way. (Hmmm, there's a thought for a modder - squeexe a whole new set of adventures within that 30 day span.) Also, I think (could be wrong) that The Pitt and Broken Steel both have 30 day transitions as well. So maybe the folks at Bethesda just got the habit of doing this whenever the game plot called for some sort of "Later". Noting also that we do take travel very much for granted in this era - not just things (trains, planes, automobiles, ships) that are safe, reliable and go fast; but all the support and infrastructure that keeps them effective. For much of human history, in most places, long-distance travel (as in anything more than the next town or whatever) has tended to be risky - and something that most ordinary people didn't do very much of. PS - There is at least one mod that shortens the Point Lookout travel time.

Lots of side-trips would be my guess.

Not an expert, and it may not even be the cause of your problem, so take this input with a large grain of salt. But, I do note that you have one esp (EnhancedChildren.esp) mixed in amongst the esms, and my (limited) understanding is that this is almost always a bad thing.